The Matchmaking Cocker Spaniels
by AoiCherry
Summary: On a hot Fourth of July, all Alfred Jones wanted to do was walk his dog, Hero. However, whenever they go out on walks, he ends up having to apologize to too many people just because his rascal of a dog keeps creating trouble. After another one of Hero's stunts, his resent towards his bad luck turns to gratefulness as Hero manages to drag a handsome Brit right to his feet.


**This is a fic for bouquetheart on Tumblr for the USUK network's Summer Exchange Festival! One of their prompts included** **a dog walking AU, and so I decided to write the gift fic on that!**

 **Summary:** On a hot Fourth of July, all 19-year-old Alfred Jones wanted to do (besides attend a barbecue and watch fireworks) was walk his dog, Hero. However, whenever he takes Hero out on walks, he ends up having to apologize to too many people in the same day just because his rascal of a dog keeps creating trouble for strangers. After another one of Hero's stunts, his resent towards his bad luck turns into gratefulness as his dog manages to drag a handsome Brit right to his feet.

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 **The Matchmaking Cocker Spaniels**

"No! Hero, stop! I said stooooopp!"

Alfred Jones yelled as he unsuccessfully tried to stop his dog, an energetic and speedy American Cocker Spaniel, from jumping onto a random child and stealing said child's hot dog. With a burst of speed, Alfred finally managed to grab a hold of his dog's leash and pull him back before he ran off again to cause more havoc. At this point the young boy was already bawling and complaining to his mom, who shot a glare at Alfred and his dog, before trying to comfort her child. People around them glanced at the scene and either gave the child and Alfred pitying looks or shook their heads and went on their way.

Under the gaze of many strangers, an embarrassed Alfred sighed and walked over to the mother and child. "I'm sorry ma'am. My dog can be a bit too energetic when we go out on walks." He then crouched down and turned to the child. "My bad, little guy," Alfred apologized as he patted the child's head. "Why don't I buy you a new hot dog to make up for it? If your mom doesn't mind."

The child's cries quieted down, until only sniffles were left. Once he had calmed down, the child nodded, which earned him a smile from Alfred. True to his promise, Alfred walked to a nearby hot dog stand with the mother and child, with one hand grasping his dog's leash tightly. He bought a new hot dog for the young boy and, after one more apology, waved good bye to the mother and child while wearing a bright smile.

Alfred then turned his attention to his dog, who was looking up at him with adoring eyes and a wagging tail. The blond sighed. "Hero, this is the fifth time I've had to apologize to someone just because you thought it was a great idea to get them involved in your little stunts." Alfred then used his free hand to pat his dog's head lovingly, earning a short bark from Hero.

"I don't even know how you got free. The minute I stop looking at you, you disappear." Alfred walked with Hero over to a nearby park bench and sat down. He then gave Hero a couple of dog treats he brought with him.

Alfred then brought out his water bottle from his bag and started chugging down water to beat the summer heat. He then relaxed into the bench and sighed. He realized that every time he took Hero out on a walk, the cocker spaniel always manages to get him into some sort of trouble with random strangers.

"Hey, Hero, you need to stop chasing after everything that catches your attention," Alfred chastised. He spared a glance at his cocker spaniel, who was sitting rather obediently on the ground, looking up at him with his head cocked to one side, innocently.

"Don't look at me like that, boy," Alfred whined. He ruffled his dog's head endearingly, earning him an excited bark from the cocker spaniel. "You know exactly what you're doing, don't you?" Hero just barked once more and stared at Alfred lovingly while panting.

"Man, you need to give me a break. If you keep this up everyone in this park is gonna end up hating me." He then jumped up and stretched for a while. "Why don't we go back home now, pal? I don't know about you but the heat's slowly killing me. Not to mention we gotta get ready for tonight's party."

The American cocker spaniel barked in agreement. The overly excited dog took the lead and started leading Alfred back to their home. However, once again luck wasn't on Alfred's side. Hero caught a sudden movement from the corner of his eyes, causing him to swiftly turn his head towards the source. A gray squirrel, munching on a piece of leftover muffin, met Hero's eyes, and as quickly as their gazes met, the squirrel dashed off. Being the playful and mischievous dog he was, Hero, of course, gave chase right at the moment when Alfred took his attention off of him to reach into his pocket and answer his ringing phone. Hero's leash slipped out of Alfred's grip and the force of Hero dashing off caused Alfred to spin gracelessly and fall on his butt while his phone dropped on the asphalt with a deafening crack, and the contents of his bag sprawled out on the ground.

Now, Alfred's mind was whirring, thinking of which path to take first. He looked around and already saw no sign of Hero. Would he try to find and chase after Hero first…again? Or would he check to see if his cracked phone still works first, pick up his things, and then give chase?

Alfred decided to go with the latter option. He tried to unlock his iPhone and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the screen light up, despite the large crack across the screen. He then frantically picked up his belongings and shoved them back in his bag right before sprinting off to find Hero.

" _Oh man, how am I always this unlucky whenever I walk Hero? Every. Single. Time. I'm never this unlucky when I stay inside!"_

Alfred searched as much of the park as fast as he could, but Hero was much faster at running. At this point, the blond was convinced that Hero was doing this to spite him, but he couldn't find it in himself to blame his dog for anything. Sweating from both the heat and exercise, Alfred decided to rest under the shade of a tree near a large fountain situated in the middle of the park. He took a swig of water and checked the time on his phone.

"3:45 already?" Alfred muttered. "Where'd you go, boy? I hope you didn't get yourself into even deeper trouble."

Just as Alfred was about to stand up to continue his search, surprised yells from a couple of people on the other side of the fountain caught his attention. His curiosity quickly disappeared and turned into amusement when he saw a poor man get dragged into and across the water fountain by two cocker spaniels. Even after the man emerged from the fountain, dripping wet, the larger cocker spaniel seemed to still have some stunts up his sleeve.

Alfred tried to stifle his laugh, since he did sympathize with the other man. _"Walking two dogs like that must be hard for the poor guy. That larger cocker spaniel even looks like Hero…"_ At that thought, Alfred squinted his eyes and observed the larger dog more closely. _"That_ _ **is**_ _Hero!"_

Once he had the revelation, he jumped up and was about to sprint over to help the man, when Hero spotted his master and started running towards Alfred, prompting the smaller dog to run as well. The drenched stranger was forcefully pulled once more, and this time he stumbled and fell, right as Hero stopped in front of Alfred.

A panting Hero beamed up at Alfred while wagging his tail, expecting his master to feed him treats and pet him. Alfred, however, was staring at the blond stranger, who was currently lying face down, unmoving.

" _What…should I even do to make up for what Hero's done this time?"_ Alfred dejectedly wondered. _"This poor guy. I don't even know what I should say to him."_

Alfred put his hand on the other man's shoulder and decided to shake him. "Um, hey, dude. Uh, are you awake? How are you feeling?"

After Alfred shook the stranger a couple of times, the man swiftly lifted his head. He then turned to look up at Alfred and blinked a couple of times, trying to grasp his current situation.

On the other hand, Alfred was internally panicking; not only because he had to find some way to make it up to the stranger, but also because said stranger was one of, if not, the most attractive man he'd ever seen. Even though the other man was drenched and covered in dirt, Alfred thought that his short, but messy blond hair complimented his facial features, and was as hypnotized by his vivid, green eyes. Alfred then noticed that the stranger also had unusually large eyebrows, and thought about commenting on them, but decided to hold his tongue.

"Uh, hi there," Alfred greeted.

"Are you the owner of this-" The stranger rasped as raised his left hand, which held Hero's leash, "Overactive and strong as hell cocker spaniel?"

The stranger's accent threw Alfred off for a second, but he quickly composed himself. "Uh, yeah, I am. Sorry about all of this. Hero tends to cause…a lot of trouble whenever I walk him, but he hasn't done anything this bad before. I am so, so sorry this happened to you."

The other man handed Hero's leash to Alfred and, while still holding his own dog's leash, pushed himself up in a sitting position. "Your dog is rather strong for its size. I found him barking up a tree, and since he obviously wasn't a stray, I decided to walk around the park with him and help him find his owner." The stranger then sighed. "I found out the hard way that taking his leash while I was still holding my own dog's leash was a mistake."

Another stab of guilt attacked Alfred. "Erm, yeah, even I have a hard time trying to hold back Hero sometimes. Again, sorry he dragged you into this." Alfred then noticed that the man also had a smaller build than him. _"No wonder Hero could pull him along easily."_

"Oh, my Excalibur had a brilliant time trying to keep up with your Hero, too," the other blond added, with a hint of spite in his voice. "It was as if Hero urged Excalibur to join in the fun."

" _Who names their dog Excalibur?"_ was Alfred's first thought, but he decided to say, "Ok, ok, I know, Hero caused a lot of trouble for you, but I'll make it up to you somehow."

"As you should," the stranger continued. He then extended his hand to Alfred and gave him a small smile. "Well, since you're making up for today's disaster, and you seem decent to talk to, let me introduce myself. My name's Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

Alfred gladly took Arthur's hand and shook it firmly. "I'm Alfred Jones. Nice to meet you! Although, it would've been nicer for us to meet in a different way…" Suddenly, an idea struck Alfred that, for him, would hit two birds with one stone.

"Hey, why don't you swing by my barbecue party tonight?" Alfred invited. "It's the Fourth today, and I'm gonna be having my other close friends over for some good food and fireworks! You can eat whatever you want and experience the classic Fourth of July fireworks!"

For Alfred, the offer seemed tempting enough, since he advertised good food, but Arthur unintentionally cringed and broke his gaze. "I'm assuming that your 'good food' consists of hamburgers and hot dogs?"

"Of course! They're like the classics for the Fourth," Alfred beamed. After noticing Arthur's expression, however, he quickly continued, "W-Well, it's not **just** burgers and hot dogs. There'll also be vegetarian options, since I have a couple of friends who are vegetarians, and there'll be other types of food like baked beans, and cake too!"

As Alfred continued to ramble on about what other types of food he was thinking of serving, an amused Arthur listened on. The smaller blond accidentally let a small chuckle slip when he realized how hard Alfred was trying.

When Alfred heard Arthur's small laugh, he stopped talking and covered his face with his palm as he blushed lightly. "I'm making a fool out of myself aren't I?"

"Hmm, perhaps," Arthur responded vaguely. "I can see that you're certainly eager about having me at your party, though."

Alfred nervously laughed. "So you're saying I'm being too obvious?"

"You certainly are," Arthur answered. After seeing Alfred get embarrassed, Arthur himself started blushing. He then cleared his throat and continued, "However, I'm not opposed to the idea at all."

Alfred's ears perked up, just like a puppy. "So you're saying you'll come?"

Arthur nodded. "Yes, erm, I will. I still think you're crazy for inviting a total stranger over to your house, but I will take you up on your kind offer."

A large smile spread across Alfred's face as he reached out to hug Arthur. "I actually wasn't betting on you accepting, but I'm glad you did!"

Arthur, as someone who wasn't used to abrupt hugs, starting blushing deeper and pushing the American away. "W-Will you please get off. H-How can you even think of hugging a complete stranger you just met?"

Alfred let go of the smaller man, but still had a bright smile on his face. "Aw, I think hugging is totally fine!"

"W-Well, for now, I would like you to respect my personal space, please," Arthur muttered.

"You got it!" Alfred enthusiastically replied. He then turned his attention to Hero, who was surprisingly lying still while wagging his tail. "You actually helped me this time, boy!" Alfred scratched the back of Hero's ear and fed him a dog treat.

"You're quite an open person, aren't you, Jones?" Arthur commented. "You've been very open towards me even though we just met."

"Just call me Alfred. Jones just…doesn't sound right for me," Alfred corrected. "And yeah, a lot of people say that about me. I just feel comfortable expressing myself."

"Alfred, then. I guess you can say that's a good thing," said Arthur.

"Thanks!" Alfred beamed. Before they could continue their conversation, Alfred's phone rang once with a small chime. He quickly checked who the sender of the message was. "Oh shoot! I forgot! I still have a lot of things to set up for tonight. I need to go home and help my brother." He jumped up, slung his bag over his shoulder, and made sure that he had a good grip on Hero's leash. "Before I go, let's exchange numbers and let me give you my address."

The two of them quickly entered each other's numbers in their phones and Alfred typed in his address as well.

"Thank you for your invitation," Arthur thanked. "It was nice to meet you."

"I'm glad we met today too!" Alfred echoed. "I'll see you tonight, alright? You can bring Excalibur if you want to too!" With that, he and Hero ran off.

Arthur stood up as well and tugged on his own dog's leash. "We should go home too, Excalibur." When he looked down at his cocker spaniel, he noticed that Excalibur was giving him a somewhat smug look.

"Wh-What? Don't look at me that way. How was I supposed to say no to someone like him?" Arthur tried to defend himself. However, Excalibur still had the smug look on his face. "Don't tell me you and his dog actually communicated somehow to lead me to this?"

Excalibur barked once, which seemed to act as a confirmation to Arthur's question, but the Brit just shook his head. "That's not possible. That would actually make you a better wingman than that frog, Francis." Excalibur seemed to relax a little, mimicking a human's slumped shoulders. Arthur tugged on Excalibur's leash once more. "Let's go home. We have our first Fourth of July party to attend to tonight."

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 **Thank you for reading! I hope everyone enjoyed it and please leave me a review and let me know what y'all think! :D**


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